Sheba on the pool steps.

Sheba, her brother Gus, and her 'follower', Buddy are wintering over by the swimming pool. Buddy got injured, probably fighting off some outside cat (he is the scrapper of this gang of three). I'm dosing him with anti-biotics for the nasty wound on his right front leg, and hope that no Feline Immune Deficiency Virus is involved (always a risk for outdoor cats). Here is an old photo of Sheba. She is a beauty.

Shaun visits Buddy during the long, hot summer of 2010

Shaun (orange and white tabby on the right) can't get over the fact that Buddy isn't intimidated by him. Buddy is the smallest but most energetic 'guard' in the Swimming Pool Gang. He and Gus tolerate Shaun visiting (Shaun likes to take walks with me), but they remind him he is a visitor.

I actually think they like his visits because having a large cat like Shaun around does help the show of force against the marauding tom cats that come over the east wall of the campus. So they let Shaun come and even scent and scratch mark in their territory. He also takes meals there sometimes.

Sheba looks 'ghostly' in this rainy season pic

Something about the lighting of the rainy season, it makes Sheba look very strange. She is a stunningly beautiful cat actually. And boss of the Swimming Pool Gang!

Another look at Buddy

Maybe this is a better photo than the previous one. He is a friendly little fellow. I like the way he has been able to make friends with Sheba and Gus and become part of the Swimming Pool Gang. He really helps them hold the territory around the swimming pool.

Finally a look at Buddy

Buddy, an all-black cat of less than two years age, is the newest (fully accepted) member of the Swimming Pool Gang. That is a trio of cats right now--Sheba, Gus (her brother), and Buddy. Buddy has a lookalike brother, Richie, who is also black, but he doesn't usually stay on campus with the Swimming Pool Gang. He lives just off campus in the neighborhood near the swimming pool.

Interestingly enough, Sheba and Gus give every indication that they would accept Richie as a member too. When he visits the campus, they treat him like he belongs. However, they seem to be against Sebastien (a black-and-white male) and Tonio (a grey-and-white male) joining. I'm hoping they will relent before this winter so that everyone can stay out of the bad weather.

Collage of Sheba

If you ever need a guard kitty for your beer

Gus is your man. Actually he just wants to make sure all your 'empties' get back to the distributor for the refund.

Gus is Sheba's brother. He prefers to eat with her. So if you set down two dishes, he will eat with her and then wait for her to start on the second one and join her for that too. He isn't trying to keep her from getting the food. Indeed, he waits for her to eat first. Once she gets going, then he joins in. Gus used to be a very nervous cat, but now he is quite used to people--at least the people who feed him and don't harass him.

Sheba takes charge

Sheba is the leader of the Swimming Pool Gang now. You can see the renovated Swimming Pool facilities in this photo of her (newly plastered and painted wall).

Unfortunately for the Gang, they have lost access to the crawl space under the Kendo Gym thanks to the re-construction. Sheba, her brother Gus, and their cousin, Buddy now all sleep under the No. 3 building of the College of Science and Technology.

Sheba is now one of three female (fixed) cats on campus--Ragi and her daughter, Gwen are the other two. All the rest are males (fixed). With her long black-and-white coat, Sheba is a truly beautiful cat. She is very good natured towards people too.  

Pushkin Collection

Pushkin (nicknamed Pushkerwhiskers, Pooty-poot) is one of the founders of the Swimming Pool Gang. I have a theory that she is related to Ragi and Bootsie, as one of the 'founding matriarchs' of the campus cats. However, my other theory is that she was someone's pet cat for much of her life and then was lost or abandoned (all too common here in Japan, unfortunately, and we have very few organizations concerned with animal welfare, making matters worse).

Late in 2008, as the winter got colder, Pushkin proved unable to live outside anymore. I brought her into my office and, after about two weeks of being sick enough to require hospitalization, she recovered. Being such a friendly and unique-looking female, I was able to find her a new home fairly easily. She is now living with a family north of Fukui City. It's just as well, as the entire Swimming Pool area is under reconstruction and there is no place for anymore cats (even though a new one has just appeared, another black-and-white one!). So it is a very good thing that Pushkin, Elvis, Gracie and Maya Girl have all found homes off campus with caring families.

I sure miss Pushkin, as she was such a relaxing cat to have in the office.

I have collected my photos her on the web. Click on the collage image below to be taken to the entire web album.

Tiger Boy and Maya Girl Collage

This a collage of Maya Girl that also includes Tiger Boy. The photo of MG on the left up against the glass shows just how much weight she lost when she was overwhelmed with grief for Tiger Boy. At that time, I was really worried about her. But I'm sure her time spent with Tiger Boy is now a really happy memory for her.

Maya Girl in her new home

I'm very happy to report that Maya Girl has transitioned very well into being a 'house cat'. This is very good for a cat who had to live outside on the university campus for the first 3.5 years of her life.

Maya Girl also taught me something about love and relationships. During the first year of her life she was nearly inseparable from her brother Tiger Boy. Actually, I think Maya Girl and Tiger Boy were born in separate litters to related mothers. She was physically behind Tiger Boy in her development. But they would always share sleeping quarters together, and Maya Girl always found a way to one of the food bowls with Tiger Boy in front of her.

When Tiger Boy was killed by a car out on a busy street near the east gate of campus, Maya Girl was forlorn for almost a month. I mean, beside herself with grief. She would go to the east gate every night and cry for hours, hoping to call Tiger Boy back. She stopped eating most of her food for three weeks and lost a lot of weight. I would go visit her everyday and talk to hear. I would hold her and pet her and tell her that we both missed Tiger Boy. She started eating again, and some students would come and visit her several times a week. Something she really enjoyed. She always liked being held and stroked.  

I like to think that Tiger Boy is in that part of heaven for cats, his soul at ease, looking down, knowing that his little adopted sister has found a new life. I'm sure Maya Girl still misses you Tiger Boy. I know I do.

Maya Girl has found a home.

Maya Girl had been living on the university campus for over 3 years. During her first year and a half, she and her brother, the loveable Tiger Boy, were inseparable. But then Tiger Boy got killed by a car. Maya Girl was near-inconsolable. She stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. Then she recovered some, seeking human company more than the company of the campus cats. She got along o.k. with Shaun when he visited, but relations with Gus and Sheba over the territory around the swimming pool were tense most of the time. Finally, they ran her out of the area and she was spending the winter mostly under the gym. But I caught her, put her in a quiet room for a week, and then she moved to her new family in Tsuruga City in southern Fukui Prefecture. Good-bye Maya Girl. We miss you here on campus but know that you have to be enjoying the comfort, warmth and safety of your new home.

Maya Girl had never lived in an apartment or house before, but as a kitten she had got quite used to people. So she has been able to adapt quite easily to living with a family in a house.

 

New Breed of Urban Guerilla Chic Cats

Sheba and her brother Gus now rule the Swimming Pool Gang. They are joined by Buddy, an all black cat who has a brother, also all black, named Richie (50s rockers being one source of naming inspiration here).

I can see the tiger-stripes and three-color calico combinations making great natural camouflage. When the orange tabby Orange Blossom hunkers down in leaves, I sometimes nearly step on him. It's about the same for the orange-and-white Caramel, his brother.

But we keep getting more and more black-and-white cats, who seem to be perfectly colored for night activity in an urban setting. They are the hardest to see at night, truly! Even harder than all-black.

 

 

Sheba is on the left and Gus the right.

Sheba is long-haired, Gus is shorter-haired

and looks like he is wearing black trousers. 

PONGO AND ELVIS

Pongo was a sickly kitten of under 3 months when I found him--dumped near the campus swimming pool, sick with a cold, and in mortal flight from crows. He rebounded and is now a strapping, healthy male (neutered) of around 9 months age. He seems to have got along well with any cat he has been put with. One of his favorite older friends was Elvis. He loved to cuddle up to Elvis, and, now that Elvis has moved to a new home (with Gracie), Pongo cuddles with me a lot. Pongo misses Elvis, Gracie and Nana, but he still spends a lot of time with Babe. They have become like brothers actually.

Another look at Pushkin

As far as I can tell, Pushkin was a stray or abandoned cat because she wasn't wary of people. I suspect she must have spent the first few years of her life somewhere else and then found herself left on campus. She quickly found a relatively safe place to stay, but winters were hard on Pushkin. So I brought her in from the cold last winter, January 2009, and let her stay in my temporary office. Since she and Elvis had been neighbors and got along fine, they just continued in my office getting along well. Winters are hard on the campus cats. Perhaps the biggest factor is securing territory for safe, dry and warm places to sleep, preferably ones close to where they get fed. So competition for space gets intense. Also, there is a lot less space for them to roam around once the snows fall. And the cats like to stay close to where they know they can get food so as not to get cut off from the supply. The abandoned cats, even if they are good fighters, seem to have a harder time establishing and keeping territory. So it is just as well Elvis and Pushkin left the outdoor cats and became indoor cats again. Pushkin moved on to a new family last March. I hope she is doing well. Her new family lives close to where Nana is, north of Fukui City, near the Kuzuryu River, as it flows north to Mikuni.

Pushkin is an extremely good-natured cat, and I think it shows when you look at her photos. 

 

 

THE ELVIS COLLECTION

Elvis album and slideshow

Elvis made the trip with Gracie to Erie, PA.

He retired from being the 'boss' of the Swimming Pool Gang. Elvis was an excellent 'officemate' with me, Pushkin, June, Gracie, Nana and Pongo.

I'm so happy we could find him a new home, and he now no longer eats his dinner under a car!

He is all around one of the coolest and nicest cats I have ever encountered. Very macho but also very sweet. He acted like a surrogate father to Pongo the kitten, cradling him and licking him. And he put up with Nana wanting to love him all the time.

Photo album (mixes some early photos of him with some later ones taken this year):

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/ELVIS#

Or run it as a slideshow:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/ELVIS#slideshow/5390539291853391378

In a future post, I will have photos of Elvis' and Gracie's long trip from Fukui, Japan to Erie, PA, USA.

Enjoy a Gracie Slideshow

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/GRACIE#slideshow/5390539483418246674

By the way, some have asked--yes, Gracie's eye is getting better after the operation that the Daimon Animal clinic so kindly performed. The eye is now actually round and you can see iris and pupil. It appears that Gracie is seeing through it now as well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/GRACIE#slideshow/5390539483418246674

Here is the link to the photoalbum that generates the slideshow, in case the link doesn't work. Just click on 'slideshow' above the album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/GRACIE?feat=directlink

Gracie Photo Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/GRACIE?feat=directlink

Here is a small collection of some of my photos of Gracie taken over the past year. Gracie recently moved to a family in Erie, PA. Although it's a long way from Fukui, the climate is very similar. Gracie went with Elvis and both are enjoying for the first time, things like plush carpets, chipmunks running outside the window, and high-quality catfood without corn grits (like Newman's Own).

http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/GRACIE?feat=directlink

June stayed with us for about a month

June stayed with us for about a month. She became good friends with Elvis and Gracie. June and Gracie were--immediately--like sisters. Being about the same age and both calico cats, they seemed to love each other. My how they loved to play too! Gracie really missed June when she joined her new family, but June went to be a companion to little O'Malley, the orange tabby we rescued earlier this year. Lil' O'Malley is now BIG O'Malley, and he and June really enjoy life together now. It seems that for a while O'Malley was a bored young male who was causing mayhem at his new family's house, but once he got June to spend time with, he settled down.

Here is a selection of my favorite photos of June when she was staying in the office. I really miss her because she was the MOST affectionate cat I've ever encountered. She must have stayed with the Swimming Pool group of cats on campus for about an hour before she came to me. That group consists of Maya Girl, Sheba, Gus--and now Buddy, a little all-black male who came from off campus this spring. Former boss of the gang is Elvis. And Gracie also spent time with the group (she started life with the Dining Hall group and then later joined the Swimming Pool one).










More photos of June, including ones with Gracie, can be found at my Picasa Web Album:


http://picasaweb.google.com/jannuzi/JUNE?authkey=Gv1sRgCPe8xdfpjKu3iwE&feat=directlink